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Zora Neale Hurston Was Born on this Day in 1891

“I have been in Sorrow’s kitchen and licked out all the pots. Then I have stood on the peaky mountain wrapped in rainbows, with a harp and a sword in my hands.” ― Zora Neale Hurston, Dust Tracks on a Road

For the Writer’s Quote Wednesday Event, we’re asked to share a favorite author’s quote that inspires us as writers. Celebrated novelist Zora Neale Hurston, a product of the Harlem Renaissance, has been one of my favorite authors for many years. Today marks the 114th anniversary of her birth.

The daughter of former slaves, she lived with various family members after her parents’ deaths. Poet, Langston Hughes was counted among her closest friends. You may know her most popular work, Their Eyes Were Watching God.

Birth, marriage and death certificates, history books with maps, census records, naturalization forms, yellowed newspaper clippings, old family photographs, probate files, obituaries...to a genealogist it's all about the relatives.